Meeting Controls

The latest fun project over at Brown Dog Gadgets is a USB device to toggle your microphone and camera on and off during video calls on your computer. Check out Meeting Controls!

We’ve got the “Business Edition” above for the adults with their serious work calls, as well as the “Fun Edition” for kids stuck in those all-day distance learning sessions.

This is a pretty simple build if you’ve got the right LEGO pieces laying around. (If you don’t a quick trip to BrickOwl.com will get you sorted straightaway.)

As always, you don’t have to perfectly replicate the LEGO build we’ve done, and it should be considered a starting point, or recommendation of one way to do it. That’s the beauty of LEGO building… it’s open ended. (Of course we do have a few tricks along the way.)

The Invention Board can be programming to work as a USB HID device, and we provide all the code you’ll need to work with Zoom, Google Meet, and even Microsoft Teams. (Webex didn’t work… blame their developers.)

Some nice touches, like the mic and camera icon, were added by using a vinyl cutter to make small stickers that are applied to flat LEGO bricks. Totally optional, but adds a bit of class and distinction to this very handy device.

As always, a wiring taping diagram and notes on the build are included in an eye-pleasing arrangement of words and images. Check out this project and more from Brown Dog Gadgets, especially if you’re an educator looking for a great invention & creativity platform that combines circuits with LEGO building.